Scarlet heaven

If you thought driving an F1 car was only for 22 of the world's best racers, think again. Stewart Bell gives you the low-down

Formula One is the undisputed pinnacle of international motorsport. To make it to the grid, drivers from all over the world train and compete against the best, often starting at a very young age.

But even with talent, contacts and financial backing, many are faced with no choice but to race in other categories or, sadly, change professions altogether.

There is another way in, however. Perhaps not on to the actual F1 grid, but into an F1 car – via Ferrari’s incredible F1 Clienti programme.

Since 2003, Ferrari has been providing F1 cars to the super-rich, offering up many of the iconic constructors’ most successful racecars for purchase.

So, once you’ve bought your dream F1 car, Ferrari will – for a pre-determined sum, of course – store it at its facility at Maranello, Italy, and even maintain it for you. The car is then available at selected F1 circuit-based events around the world, or at Ferrari’s private test track in Fiorano.

As long as you’re a certified driver and have the money, you can choose from a wide variety of Ferrari single-seaters dating back from 1970 to cars which were on the track as recently as two years ago – as expected, a two-year, nosale period is placed on each car after its final season in the sport, to protect the raft of cutting-edge technology from rival F1 teams.

But as an F1 enthusiast, you’ll be hard-pressed to choose from among the 200 of Ferrari’s most famous single-seaters that, in the past, have been driven by world champions Kimi Räikkönen, Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and others.

“Some owners want a championship-winning car, some specifically want a V8 or a V10 – every owner is different,” says Antonello Coletta, head of Ferrari’s Corse Clienti department.

“Depending on its history, a car can range in value anywhere from €1 million to €3 million. After they’ve purchased the car, they will have a test drive, usually here at Fiorano. Our team at Corse Clienti will work with them and prepare a calendar to find a programme that suits the owner.”

As you can well imagine, once you own the car and you’re at Fiorano, things start to get very real. “I did the shakedown at Fiorano with my wife,” says Eric Cheung, a property developer who chose an F2007 – one of the 2.4-litre V8-powered cars that took Kimi Räikkönen to the world championship six years ago in 2007. “The feeling during the unveiling was like when I married my wife, when I lifted the veil and kissed her during the ceremony. I was so happy and excited.”

Once the formalities are out of the way, you can start getting to grips with F1 power. “We have two types of events F1 Clienti customers can take part in. The first is a joint event specifically for F1 Clienti and XX Programme [Ferrari’s GT-based cars] participants,” explains Coletta. “This event generally lasts two days and starts with a briefing before the owners work with the trainers to perfect their skills. Our guest coach and driver, usually Giancarlo Fisichella or Marc Gene, will set a baseline lap so owners can compare their telemetry. Usually, owners will have up to four hours of track time.”

“The second event is Ferrari Racing Days, which combines the best of Ferrari Racing, including the Ferrari Challenge, in a threeday festival.”

But it’s out on the track that the challenge really starts. And make no mistake: These powerful prototypes are very physically and mentally demanding to drive.

“It’s true that, from the onboard cameras, it could look very easy to drive an F1 car,” says ex-F1 driver Martin Brundle. “The driver’s fitness levels belie the high energy levels involved. I’ve taken people round in a two-seater F1 car, and their necks are finished and they’re gasping for breath after just two, laps on the track. And they weren’t even driving.”

To ease you into driving an F1 car – and to keep you away from the barriers – Ferrari adjusts the electronic controls. “The cars are exactly the same as when they finished the F1 season they’d last competed at,” says Coletta. “[But] to avoid damage to them, due to initial customer inexperience, we increase the threshold of some of the electrical controls, such as traction control. These aids are slowly reduced as customers begin to increase their skills behind the wheel, until the car is returned to its original settings.”

All the traction control in the world, however, cannot remove the pure mental and physical assault on the senses that F1 power brings. “The physical aspect is really speed-dependent,” says Ferrari’s test-driver Marc Gene, who made 36 GP starts between 1999 and 2004 for Minardi and Williams. “If the owners drive a bit slower – about 10 or 20 seconds slower than my baseline lap – then the physical aspect is not too great. However, when they get closer to my lap time, perhaps under 10 seconds away, then every second puts more strain on them.

“I think it really encourages many owners to work out and lead a healthy life. I find that most customers are highly capable of mastering the systems that, for example, help them change gears and pull away. They’re incredibly capable as businessmen and they find these skills transfer to the racing car.”

As for the most impressive part of the experience, many – including those top-line racing drivers moving from GP2 to F1 for the first time – say it’s the brake, not the throttle, that gives them the biggest buzz.

“The power of the car is tremendous,” says Cheung. “But the power is not the biggest issue.

It’s the cornering and the stopping that surprise me. It’s completely different from the Ferrari Challenge GT car that I’m used to driving. With the GT car, I brake at 300 metres before the turn. In the F1 car, I can brake at 80 metres. For high-speed corners, the F1 car’s downforce is so powerful that it actually helps you turn better at higher speeds.”

While Ferrari’s instructors will work closely with you to get the best out of your F1 car, shaping you into a racing star is quite something else.

“When I compared my lap time at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit with Kimi Räikkönen’s, who drove the same car at the same track, the time difference was more than 17 seconds per lap,” says Cheung.

“That means he can lap me in seven laps. I feel terribly slow, but my wife always comforts me by saying that he’s a professional, and that I’ve started racing at the age of 46 and am doing it just for fun.”

As Gene said of his first taste of F1 power with Minardi at the end of 1998: “It was like the whole world stood still and I was passing through a tunnel at the speed of light.”

Get On Board

While €3 million might not exactly be pocket change for most of us, it’s still possible to drive an F1 car on a budget. Here’s where and how:

Lotus F1 Team’s iRace package, held at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France, includes a passenger experience in an F1 two-seater and the opportunity to drive both a Formula Renault 2.0 car and V10-era F1 car.lotusf1team.com

Head to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit for a Formula Yas 3000 driving experience. At only €350, you get to drive a car featuring a 3000cc V6 Formula One-style engine developed by Cosworth.yasmarinacircuit.com